Tigger Bounces into Bootsie's Birthday

Dear Bootsie:

Sorry I am a few days late with your birthday letter.  But I have a good reason.  I just got home this afternoon from spending three great days with you, Sooby, and Pooh while Mama, Daddy, and Baby Zoomba went on a weekend trip.  You guys kept me very busy.  But let me take time now to remind you what all we did during the weekend of your second birthday.

First, we ate chocolate cake and ice cream, a feat that you managed much better this year than last year when you turned one.  This time, you didn't need to go straight from the high chair to the bathtub. You are growing up.

Speaking of which, it is probably time for you to think about ditching the diapers.  That is quite a trick you do, climbing up onto Zoomie's changing table and waiting for me to come and change you.  You are as big as the tabletop, and maneuvering a diaper underneath you in such close confines is not that easy.  I think Mama plans to stuff your Christmas stocking this year with big girl underwear, so you might as well get ready.

This was the year Pa-pa and I brought you the Elmo toy that snores and plays a lullaby when you push his tummy, and it was a lot of fun to see how much you liked it.  But my favorite memory of your second birthday weekend will always be the one about Tigger.

Of all the kids, you have been the one most taken with Googie's Winnie-the-Pooh shirt (clearance rack at Sear's last winter).  So I wore it to your house three days ago on your birthday.  Remember it?  It looks like this, a yellow long-sleeved shirt sporting a picture of Winnie-the-Pooh and Eeyore:

 

When you saw the shirt this time, you studied it disapprovingly.  I couldn't imagine what was wrong.  It turns out, you were disappointed because Tigger wasn't there along with his pals from the Hundred Acre Wood.  I didn't know how I was going to fix this problem, But then, you figured out what to do.  Once again, you climbed on the changing table and picked off a little stuffed Tigger from the mobile hanging above it.  You brought Tigger to me and demanded that I attach it to the above scene.  This is the best I could do:

 

Understandably, I felt a little funny going around all evening with Tigger protruding in this manner, but he does look happy, I guess, and having him there certainly made you happy. 

I wish for you always to be happy, sweet little girl.  Your smile lights up a room and warms my heart.  Tigger, Elmo, and Googie all hope you had a happy, happy birthday.

Love,
Googie

P.S. I hate to hijack your birthday letter, Bootsie, but I want our other friends to know about something coming up in the blog later this week.  Last week, I wrote a Halloween story for a local contest, so I tried it out on the kids this weekend.  I asked Sooby, now a kindergartener, if she wanted to draw some pictures to go with it, and she was greatly excited to be an "illustrator."  So, while I am in this highly irregular (for me) picture-posting mode on the blog, I am going to publish the short story in three installments, complete with the illustrations that Sooby drew.  It is called "Jacky Joe's Halloween Party," and Sooby and I hope you enjoy the fruits of our teamwork.  We certainly did.